Get a mayor

So, you throwing your hat in? Haven't heard from you for awhile, I was hoping maybe you relocated!

Ol' sour grapes is back.......just cant let go that you and your live in the dark ages bunch were not able to defeat the new city building.

A Mayor form of city government? You think that would improve things? You betcha.

Comparing McCook with Denver and Atlanta....wow Wild Bill, what you been smoking?

Bill has some very good comments and ideas. Apparently you have not read his resume? Please by all means tell us why a mayor/council form of government will not work for McCook???????????

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a mayor lead municipal government structure is a bit like a dictatorship where the City's decisions are made by an individual. If those decisions are poor, then the Mayor gets the heat and is not re-elected.

A council structure forces multiple views / opinions to be considered and the majority rules. In the larger cities, a council structure has failed due to no resolve in part due to larger demographic influences, therefore leading to a longer and sometimes infinite time frame to get anything done.

A large city may choose a mayor structure, as a lesser of two evils, to make things happen, be it good or bad, having a single individual make the decisions based on the assist of his council. Keep in mind that his council is generally those that are like minded with the Mayor so a non biased decision is generally NOT going to be the case.

The council structure is a better system to represent the wishes of the public as there are more views for which to make the proper decision.

It is much like a trial by judge vs. trial by peers.

For example: If the Mayor was attacked by a dog when he was young and had an intense hatred for dogs, he may, in bias, go against any dog related issue, whereas if a single council member had that same hatred toward dogs, his say wouldn't be the end all be all decision as he would have unbiased co-councilmen to level the ground.

I would say that if asked, a large municipality might say that a council structure would be preferred if it allowed issues to progress rather than carry on or just die unresolved.

Billy/nuffy the city had to cut its new building budget because of litigation cost you caused all us taxpayers while fighting you and your save the west ward croonies who wanted to save a eyesore that nobody wanted even when for sale for years to anyone for 50k dirt cheap...but as soon as the city owned it boom you demand studies and create roadblocks costing thousands of dollars in legal fees till you lost the battle ... So we can only thank you for our cities cutting back in needed areas for years ahead..

Just because you have a hospital full of Doctors doesn't mean you have someone that could perform brain surgery. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that we don't have qualified people in our community that would do a fine job as Mayor, it's just that I think it takes a businessman, a public relations individual, a trained infrastructuralist and certainly someone with thick skin to do the job. Now I personally know several individuals in this community that have those qualities...... they all are quite successful at what they do and I should hardly think that anyone of them would much prefer to deal with the cross fire that such a position would throw at them. The fact is this.... anyone in the position of City Manager, or Full Active Mayor won't stay around forever. After having to put up with the same public complaining that he /she is spending too much money, and he/ she isn't promoting growth, and he/ she isn't taking care of the infrastructure, they would have to hunt for higher ground within 3 to 5 years. The ones that stick around are the dangerous ones as they simply don't care what the public thinks and therefore does whatever they wish. A bad mayor that acts on his or her own agenda right from the beginning can do a lot of damage before they are set free, irreparable damage. Take a look at the federal government for example. One more year of this pouring money down the drain and printing more cash only to lower the value of our once grand American Dollar Bill has put the world on course for a monetary denominational switch.

A question for Bill:

What if the newly elected mayor decided he had not a drop of nostalgic blood in his or her veins and decided to knock down all of the old buildings and implement an industrial park to bring in new tax revenue? Just because someone is local doesn't mean they have the same views as you do. That much is certain as your views aren't the same as many others in this town, so someone is always going to be rubbed the wrong way. Take out the council and it's entirely up to the mayor to make the choice. "If you don't like it, don't vote me in next term, BUT, that doesn't bring back the old buildings and parks." A lot of damage can be done by putting the power all in one basket. Remember, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely"

I agree with Nick, why would you want to put your trust in a dictatorship? Sure you might get lucky and vote on someone with the same mindset as yourself, but imagine the results if you didn't and according to your term, it would be a "thin margin" of citizens that will either be happy or sad.

You tell me why a "mayor/council form of government WILL work for McCook???????????" Seems like a roll of the dice to me.

holy cow there are a lot of long winded people that have long winded opininons. i though nick was bad till i read that last post. i lived in a mayor run city for years and we never saw a military presence. this isnt russia for crying out loud. how bad could it be to try something new?

BT... I can see that you don't care for detail, reading, words or even some form of proper writing skills for that matter; therefore it is no surprise that you are willing to throw caution to the wind and see what happens. I suspect that you have no ties with the City of McCook and if things don't go to your liking, you pick up and move out.

Speaking solely on my own behalf, I will state that not everybody has the option of calling a mover to pack up their 2 bedroom apartment and move on to the next location that pleases them. I for one have a family and career right here in McCook. I was raised in this area and my children call this home. This is where our friends and family are and I am not willing to "see what happens".

Feel free to prove me wrong and let me know what binds you to this area when the going gets tough.

Our city council votes and the issues and the mayor only votes in case of a tie. I would imagine your mayor/council situation would act the same. No one gets to be the dictator here.

Thats what I'm saying.... with a City Council, there is no dictatorship. If there is a single individual in charge though...........

i cant believe my eyes. a two sentence statement by old nick. how does new york manage the tyranny of a mayorship anyway?

All you people that want a mayoral type of government keep mentioning large cities like New York, Atlanta,Denver,a whole lot different than little ol' McCook. There are probably more people living in some of the high rise apartments than lives on the east side of McCook.

Remington, tell us how a mayoral form would work for McCook, and by the way, are you even a citizen of McCook?

I guess I haven't read old wild bill's resume lately, I mostly remember all the sour grapes comments when he doesn't get his way. He just can't take defeat very well.

Nick brings up a very valid reason for the cutbacks in the new building, due to the stupid law suits etc. trying to keep waste ward!

Just save your breath BT. Looks like the old spend and tax people are at it again. Wouldn't be surprised if they are on the city pay-role.

I would rather see a mayor in charge rather than a bunch of finger pointing councilmen that blame each other when something goes wrong. at leaste when a mayor makes a bad call there's only one person to blame.

If I am thinking right, the reason they are having to reduce costs for the new building was because the original company made mathmatical errors in their figures. My thought would have been to have the bids let out again. And yes because of study after study to save a falling apart building were done that too adds to the overall cost of this new building.

What saddens me is that nearly a year after voting for this project our dedicated fire, paramedic and police personnel are still not any closer to having a decent facility to do their jobs that we the public as them to do everyday. Quit focusing on what the council is doing/not doing and fight for those that protect us every day. Start asking why can't the bids be let out again and get this project moving instead of fooling around with a company that can't do the math.

Just saying.............

I agree with love2. How much faith can we put into a construction company that keeps the bid low to get the job then requires more money to do the job or less job to do for the money. Back in my day, if you got the bid you honored it. If the awarded company can't do it for what they said they can do it for, 1 of 2 things should happen...........

1. The bond that they furnished to do the project be pulled and used to pay difference of the bids that the next reasonable contractor in line bid....

OR

2. The awarded contractor does it for what they said they could do it for and take the loss.

I know the contractor and believe me, if one of their subs told them they needed more money for the project after they bid it, they wouldn't care. I'm relatively certain that they would require their sub to finish at contract price or they would hire someone to finish the project and force the original sub to pay the difference by obligation of contract.

The purpose of a sealed bid project is to get fair and solid bids. If we let this type of thing pass then it sets the precedence for future projects. "Bid low to get the job then hike the price to make your profit."

I'm also aware of the other contractors that bid the project and if they bid it correctly then of course their bids were higher. A re-bid isn't the answer here, the awarded contractor knows what the other companies were bidding at this point, the contractor that was awarded the contract needs to step up accept the responsibility of their bidders. They were the contractor that set the budget that was presented to the public.

Now the City Officials are taking the heat because the facility is changing shape. They did what they were supposed to do and get competent bids from reputable contractors and use the bids to formulate a proposed budget to present to the public. Actually, if I'm not mistaken, they used an architect's estimate to formulate that budget then announced that the project could be done for that cost, based on the winning contractor's bid.

What do they call this type of construction's general contractor? Ah yes.... the "Construction Manager At Risk". Better bid it right the first time fellas, ergo the "risk" portion of the title that you assumed by signing on the dotted line.

The word of the day here is "Accountability".

will someone please tell me what that has to do with the type of government we employ in this town?

Here in Valparaiso Indiana we elect a mayor and a city council. electing a mayor does not equal a dictatorship.

Here in McCook we elect a mayor and a city council and WE don't have a dictatorship, BECAUSE the mayor isn't the final decision maker, the panel of councilmen are.

If the City Council is the deciding factor, its a council based structure vs a mayoral structured municipal government, which is governed by a single man and a non voting assembly of his advisers. The later of the two could turn into a dictatorship should the elected mayor have his own agenda ahead of that of the City.

If I'm not presenting this clearly or am mistaken, please clarify this for me so I'm not spewing misinformation.

I was reading that last post and I want to correct myself: "mayoral structured municipal government, which is governed by a single man and a non voting assembly of his advisers." Should have read: which is governed by a single individual and thier non voting assembly of advisors.

I wasn't trying to be sexist.

Nick,

Let me if I'm wrong but:

I don't ever remember a mayor race in McCook.

I was always remembered it as the Citizens voted for the council. The Council then decide which one of them becomes mayor. The mayor is not much more than a face for the council and has the same amount of power as the other council members.

Here in Valparaiso we vote a city council exactly like McCook.

We also have a vote for mayor, which is a full time job unlike McCook were Dennis still goes off and is principal of the Jr. High. (Or whatever his role maybe now I don't recall reading anywhere that he has a different job)

I had to look this up just to make sure I remembered it correctly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_the_United_States#Mayor-Council

Valparaiso would have the Mayor/Council form of Government. McCook has Council/Manager form.

In theory, if McCook switched to a Mayor/Council they would be able to get rid of the City Manager position. The person taking the job would be mayor voted for by the people of McCook, not decided by the council members.

Benefits would be the person comes from McCook voted into the job by the people of the town. There is also the accountability of if the mayor is not doing a good job, the people can vote him out.

This next one could be a benefit or a negative depending on the situation.

We also don't have to find a new city manager ever few years as the old left for a bigger job with a higher salary back home where they are from.

(I mean really, who was the last city manager of McCook from McCook?)

Now, that could be a negative by not getting some new blood in the city with a different perspective. McCook is town of 8,000 and shrinking, seeming 90-95% republican (Probably not the actual figure but honestly, it seems like it) Getting people if some different ideas of how to grow McCook could end up being harder with a mayor/council form (this is also known as group think; a few may make the argument that's already happening).

There's pluses and minuses to both forms of government and I'm not going to say which one is right for McCook. In part because I don't know. In part because I don't really care, and In part because I moved from McCook and even if I wanted to move back, I'd have to convince my fiance (not likely, especially since her and her sister convinced their mom to move from North Platte)

However, I will say that having to vote for the mayor and a city council does not equal dictatorship. A) the people can vote the mayor at the regular elections and B) in a lot of places there's a recall vote.

Noted. Thank you for the clarification. In your experience, how has that Mayor system been for you? I could see a Mayor being on the fence often times. It would be similar to having home grown police officers. From what I understand, local individuals are not in the desired hiring pool due to past relations with the locals. Seems that biases would be an ugly realism, regardless whether it be for or against a position or group.

Maybe a constant regeneration of blood is healthy, providing it is not more frequent than once every four to five years.

Honestly, I'm not real sure if I can say one way or another. I moved to the area in 07 and Valpo Specifically in 08. In that time there's only been the one mayor so I can't really say how a change in leadership would be positive or negative.

However I can honestly say that Valpo is more progress than McCook. Rather or not that is because of the government type is just the people running the city I can't say for sure.

I think with a mayor, they have to come up with a plan for improving the city and sell it to the majority of the citizens in order to become elected. Sometimes for that you have to live in the place a few years to see what needs improved.

Where has with a city manager they have to convince a majority of the city council. There is also the chance that they have little idea of whats going on in McCook and with that it's just like interviewing for any other job.

"What qualifies you to lead the city"

"I can keep in your budget"

"Hired!"

All right so it is more than that. However, in order for a city manager to improve McCook they have to know whats holding McCook back.

I've lived in Valparaiso since 2008. I'm still not sure I know enough of what could be done to improve Valparaiso in order to be able to come up with a plan that can be executed and progress to the future. I know the big that's being focused in infrastructure. some of our roads need upgrading and a good portion of the city has no sidewalks. I also think we could use a couple more bike lanes.

the current mayor fist took office in 2008 along with infrastructure he also built a rainy day fund of a couple million. I know there's no way I could have done moving here for the first time in 2008.

There's also a few other changes and a lot of pushing on a couple other issues that I think a homegrown person would have sought sooner than an out of town person.

In that aspect, Mayor trumps Manager.

However, you get the right people on council,and the right manager in place, the same things could be accomplished.

Just a little background, Valparaiso was founded a few years before the civil war and has a population of 31,730 and an extremely vibrant downtown. Indiana doesn't register parties, however, the mix seems to be closer to 50/50 republican/democrat. At least I can walk down the street and both views are talking.

They also say Valpo is also the southeastern most suburb of Chicago about an hour from downtown. I don't know if I would quite classify valpo as suburb as it has a lot more going for it than just Chicago.